Wes Unseld Jr. gaining traction as Magic coaching candidate

The Magic are ramping up their search for a head coach, and one name that seems to be gaining serious momentum is Nuggets‘ associate head coach Wes Unseld Jr., write Josh Robbins and Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Unseld recently conducted a second interview with the Magic. Unseld worked as an assistant in Orlando under former head coach Jacque Vaughn from 2012-15 and has been an assistant in Denver for the past six seasons. He was promoted to Associate Head Coach prior to this season, and was tasked with focusing on the team’s defense, which has been surprisingly successful given their offense-minded personnel.

Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today Sports tweets that Unseld also interviewed for the Wizards head coach position today. Unseld’s father was with the Wizards for 13 seasons as a player, including their championship in 1978, and served in different roles for the organization for 20 years, as vice president, head coach, and general manager.

Suns assistant coach Willie Green, Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon and Magic assistant coaches Tyrone Corbin, Pat Delany and Steve Hetzel have all interviewed for the position as well, and former Mavericks assistant coach Jamahl Mosley is set to interview with the team sometime this week.